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Penn Dental Medicine Launches $36 Million Fundraising Campaign

October 22, 2007

On Friday, October 19, Penn Dental Medicine celebrated the launch of Leading the Profession, The Campaign for Penn Dental Medicine – its most ambitious fundraising campaign ever – at a special gala celebration. Alumni, faculty, student leaders, friends, and supporters joined University President Amy Gutmann, the School's Board of Overseers, and other key administrators for this special gathering, which took place at The Inn at Penn. The $36 million campaign is part of the University of Pennsylvania's Making History campaign, which officially launched on October 20.

The Penn Dental Medicine campaign will raise new resources for creating state-of-the-art clinical care and teaching environments ($17.5 million), building endowed funds for faculty recruitment and retention ($13.5 million), and student scholarships ($4.5 million). The School already has a significant number of gifts and pledges – 67% of its goal – made to the campaign. Campaign Co-Chairs Dr. Lawrence Kessler (C'66, D'70) and Dr. Martin D. Levin (D'72, GD'74) announced some of the key leadership gifts at the gala. Among them:

•  In excess of $8 million (to date) from the estate of the late Dr. Louis Schoenleber, a member of the Penn undergraduate Class of 1942 and the Penn Dental Medicine Class of 1943, to establish the Chair of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Fund.

•  $750,000 from the estate of the late Dr. Lee Krimmer, a member of the Penn Dental Medicine Class of 1949 to support the renovation of the Main Clinic and the naming of the Krimmer Wing within this facility.

•  $1.9 million from Henry Schein, Inc., which was announced by Stanley Bergman, a member of the Penn Dental Medicine Board of Overseers and Chairman and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc., to name the Main Clinic in honor of Edward B. and Shirley Shils. Dr. Shils, who passed away in 2004, was a member of Penn Dental Medicine's Board of Overseers, the founder of the Wharton Entrepreneurial Center, and the George W. Taylor Professor Emeritus of Entrepreneurial Management at the Wharton School.

"We are deeply grateful for these leadership contributors who have helped to get this campaign off to such a successful start," said Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations Dr. James Garvey. "Their support points the way for others to join the effort."

For more information on the Leading the Profession campaign, visit http://www.dental.upenn.edu/campaign.

View photos from the event

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